It was back in mid-February when the job spec was publicly laid bare. The four-man Club England panel were seeking a successor to Fabio Capello who, according to the managing director, Adrian Bevington, would command the respect of the players, boasted a "great track record", could excite the nation's support and bought into the philosophy behind the Football Association's new development hub at St George's Park. The populist clamour was for Harry Redknapp, the charismatic candidate who seemed to tick plenty of the boxes, but those who mattered thought differently: step forward Roy Hodgson, England manager.

The word from Wembley on Monday night was that the FA had simply turned to the best man for the job. It would claim that, of course. But, in the West Bromwich Albion head coach, they had a contender with 36 years spent directing from the dug-out, his vast experience gleaned with 15 clubs and three national associations over spells spent in eight different countries. His reputation at home may have been tarnished by a traumatic 191-day spell with Liverpool but those on the outside looking in have been baffled it has taken this long to acknowledge his qualities. As Ramon Vega, a player under the 64-year-old with Switzerland in the mid-1990s, said: "He's the only English manager with the CV to do something internationally."

The Club England quartet have had to balance short-term pragmatism with long-term planning. The national team's immediate priority remains Euro 2012 with the new manager charged with solving the collection of pressing issues that must have privately left Capello gnashing in frustration. Will Rio Ferdinand and John Terry be able to occupy the same dressing-room given that the latter is due to stand trial on 9 July, eight days after the final, charged with racially abusing Ferdinand's younger brother, Anton? Who will be the side's permanent captain? Who will lead the line in the absence of the suspended Wayne Rooney for the group games against France and Sweden?

These are the kind of questions one might envisage the FA's general secretary, Alex Horne, or the chairman, David Bernstein, firing at the candidate in today's initial four-hour interview. Capello tended to retreat behind the language barrier when awkward issues flared up and Hodgson will not have had that option, though he would not have been daunted. Club England will have found reassurance in the experience Hodgson can cite winning league championships in Sweden and Denmark, steadying the ship at Internazionale and West Bromwich, and steering Fulham into a Europa League final. There is not much he has not seen before.

Perhaps more persuasive stillwere his achievements with Switzerland, Finland and the United Arab Emirates. He has overseen 80 international games when the other principal contender boasts none. Hodgson humiliated Arrigo Sacchi's Italy en route to the World Cup finals in the United States in 1994 and hoisted an unfashionable team to a remarkablethird in Fifa's world rankings. He came close to securing Finland's first qualification for a major tournament, eventually missing out by three points. It may be five years since he left Helsinki for the Premier League, but he knows the game at that level. As one acquaintance put it last night: "He's put in the hours and done the miles, and can probably tell you about it all in five different languages."

The FA would hope that know-how stands him in good stead at Euro 2012, a tournament England cannot afford to write off with all thoughts geared towards the World Cup in Brazil. He will have to eke the best from a senior squad with a transitional feel. Bernstein had talked up the need for "motivational qualities" and an ability "to handle big players". Some might argue the brief sojourn on Merseyside showed Hodgson was lacking on that front, but he has flourished on other stages. At Fulham he reinvigorated a club that appeared condemned by instigating first solidity, then some fluidity. The captain, Danny Murphy, likened his knowledge of the game to that of Dario Gradi at Crewe with his training methods fine-tuned in Serie A and renowned for their drilled routines: pattern of play; responsibility, discipline and defensive shape; width in attack, depth in defence.

England's players might not require the man-to-man coaching they receive with their clubs when they link up with the national squad but they will always benefit from a manager who can mould them into a cohesive unit. There is encouragement, too, to be drawn from the recent shift away from the rigid 4-4-2 Hodgson employed with Fulham and Liverpool. West Bromwich have experimented with 4-4-1-1 and even 4-3-3, offering evidence of the flexibility that was so conspicuous by its absence when England's challenge in South Africa fizzled out in 2010.

Then there is the far less glamorous "classroom" aspect to the subtly rebranded England manager's role, the element which looks to the longer term. Hodgson has always had a studious air. He has relished his work on Uefa and Fifa technical study groups at tournaments, assignments far removed from the tracksuit coaching most consider key to management, and there will be extra-curricular elements to this role that others might not have taken to quite so readily. As of September the entire national set-up will revolve around St George's Park where England's 24 teams – men's, women's and disabled – will be brought together on the 130-acre site. The England manager, alongside a technical director still being sought, will offer guidance to coaches and players across the age groups. "You mustn't underestimate the importance of St George's Park in this," said Bernstein. "The dynamic for England will be very different when we have St George's Park."

Bevington had expanded upon that philosophy in February in the wake of the messy divorce with Capello. "If the team are at St George's Park for 10 days, it's perfectly reasonable to expect a new manager to wander from one room to another and spend some time talking to the younger players," he said. "Imagine the boost that would give them. He can, on a very frequent basis, go and talk to the younger players and explain the importance of international football to them. He can go away with the Under-21s when the seniors aren't playing and be a real motivator to the players. It will help build a pathway to a much stronger long-term plan."

This aspect to the job feels new. It requires a manager who will not merely be obsessed with the first team's prospects but can see the wider picture. In Hodgson Club England recognised an eagerness to offer his experience to younger coaches and pay real attention to the younger sides' progress. Capello was hardly ever spied watching the junior teams. His brief, as he saw it, was solely the senior squad. Hodgson might actually offer a sense of direction that filters through the whole set-up. That will be the hope. Time will tell if the four-man panel's faith is justified.